Iraqi premier in Beirut to pay respects to late top Shiite cleric Fadlallah

Iraqi PM pays respects to late top Lebanese cleric

BEIRUT — Iraq’s prime minister paid his respects to Lebanon’s late top Shiite cleric during a brief visit to Beirut Thursday.

Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah was one of the founders of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Dawa party. The revered cleric was also believed to be the party’s religious guide until his death on Sunday following a long illness.

A 100-member Iraqi delegation was among the tens of thousands of mourners at Fadlallah’s funeral south of Beirut on Tuesday.

Al-Maliki, who rarely travels outside Iraq, headed straight from the Beirut airport to the Imamayn al-Hasanayn mosque in Haret Hreik where Fadallah was buried.

“I offer my condolences to the entire nation for this great man,” the Iraqi leader said after praying at Fadlallah’s grave, bedecked with white flowers.

Fadlallah, 75, was one of Shiite Islam’s highest and most revered religious authorities with a following that stretched beyond Lebanon’s borders to Iraq, the Gulf and as far away as central Asia.

“Our consolation is that he left behind for us a shining legacy that will lead the way for us,” al-Maliki said.

Known for his staunch anti-American views, Fadlallah was described by Western media in the 1980s as a spiritual leader of the Lebanese militant Hezbollah — a claim both he and the group have since denied.

He was known for his bold fatwas, or religious edicts, including one that gave women the right to hit their husbands if they attacked them and another that banned so-called “honor killing” of women.

Al-Maliki also met with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri and President Michel Suleiman during his one-day visit to Beirut.